Police arrested Nanic Aidasani, 42, a nurse at the Manhattanville Health Center in the Bronx in February 2014 for allegedly raping a 64-year-old dementia patient who cannot speak. The victim was not identified because she is the victim of a sexual assault.

An aide walked into the woman’s room late at night and allegedly saw Aidasani on top of the woman. According to officials, staff members detained the nurse until the police arrived. The victim was taken to New York Presbyterian Hospital, which had to obtain a court order to perform a rape kit because the woman cannot speak. After the kit was performed, it was handed over to the NYPD for further analysis and investigation.

The woman’s children, Loida Rivera, 34, and Alejandro Madera, 36, want the state Health Department to investigate the facility. Rivera said, “It’s just heartbreaking. It’s horrible that this is happening to my mother…She was at the nursing home because my brother and I thought it was a safe haven for her, a safe place for her. That she would be protected. But she wasn’t protected. She was assaulted.”

Madero, who received a call at 4:00 a.m. from the nursing home telling him what had happened to his mother, said, “We’re still in shock right now, trying to deal with this situation.”

A spokesperson for the Manhattanville Health Center said, “Manhattanville Health Care Center contacted the police department and Department of Health to report an alleged sexual abuse complaint. Our residents are our number one priority and we will continue to assist authorities in their ongoing investigation.”

State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., a member of the New York State Senate Committee on the Aging, said, “It saddens me to learn that another senior citizen has been abused–this time, assaulted and raped–in a nursing home where elderly are supposed to be protected. On this occasion, the abused person happens to be a member of my faith community. Since the family reached out to me for guidance, I have prayed with them and for them.”